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During his State of the Union address in January, Pres. Barack Obama pleased some alternative fuels producers by giving special mention to “advanced biofuels.” Biofuels have received presidential utterances in past addresses, but results haven’t always been forthcoming. “First of all, there were no specifics, so there was really nothing there,” said Jatrodiesel president Raj Mosali. “The president mentioned biodiesel specifically when he was campaigning, and now he’s talking about ‘biofuels,’ which could mean anything—and that’s concerning.”

In addition, grants, loan guarantees and even American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds are not going to biodiesel producers for the purposes of plant optimization and upgrades. “That’s 100 percent true,” Mosali says. “All of this assistance is being directed toward things like fuel cells, cellulosic ethanol and electric motors—all technologies that are still far off.”

The Obama administration coming out with billions of dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to increase “clean energy manufacturing” could seem almost like a taunt to biodiesel producers.Obama announced “awardees” of the $2.3 billion clean energy manufacturing tax credits as existing biodiesel producers languish over the lapse of their specific federal blender tax credit. “Projects are assessed based on the following criteria: commercial viability, domestic job creation, technological innovation, speed to project completion, and potential for reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions,” the White House stated on Jan. 8.

While the word “biofuels” was good to hear spoken by the president, there’s a word that describes the 2009 biodiesel year—idle. Huge plants sat quiet for months as vegetable oils were high and diesel prices were not. Imperium Renewables Inc., which suffered an explosion at its Grays Harbor plant in Washington State, said it was in no big hurry to make repairs while the tax credit is nonexistent.

Enterprise Holdings, owner of the Alamo Rent-A-Car, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and National Car Rental brand names, made a big announcement in support of biodiesel during day two at the National Biodiesel Conference & Expo in Grapevine, Texas.

Big Business Goes Green

The company announced its commitment to move its entire fleet of more than 600 shuttle buses to B20 within the next 5 years, beginning with incorporating at least B5 in all its buses this year.

Nine Enterprise Holdings markets will convert to using B20 in its shuttle buses immediately, said Lee Broughton, director of corporate identity and sustainability for Enterprise Holdings, and by the end of next year, 50 percent of Enterprise Holdings’ shuttle buses will be running on B20.

Broughton said the company will have reduced its petroleum consumption by 420,000 gallons in the first year alone.

Also announced was the appointment of Richard Sayre as director of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis.

Sayre, former cellular plant and molecular biology professor at Ohio State University, and his team of 10 researchers will work to develop algae for biofuels, and will focus efforts in ways such as utilizing CO2 from coal-fired power plants to help grow algae, which would act as a carbon sink. Sayre said nutrients could be provided to the algae with water from sewage treatment facilities.

“We can use the contaminants as fertilizer,” he said. “Algae doubles it biomass in 24 hours, and it can be harvested daily,” he added—which captured the attention of the Department of Defense.

Sayre said algae’s energy balance today is only about 2:1, but theoretically this can increase four to six times with research and development.

Alaska is one of the coldest spots in the world, but its natural sources of heat represent a wonderful opportunity in renewable energy resources.

Geothermal Generator

One of these natural sources is the hot springs which give the town of Chena Hot Springs, Alaska its name. Recently, the owner of the Chena Hot Springs Resort, Bernie Karl, has developed a new way to harness this energy: a portable geothermal power generator which generates electricity from hot water.

The resort’s hot springs result from geothermal heat that rises to the earth’s surface through fissures in the planet’s core. But Karl realized that the heat from the springs can offer more than a spa experience; it can provide electricity. Karl developed what’s being called the first portable geothermal generator. The generator takes hot water from the ground and cycles it into a refrigeration system to generate power. Once the water is used, it gets pumped back into the ground to be reused again.

The resort’s work was the result of state and federal grants; Karl also worked with United Technologies of Hartford, Connecticut to develop the 400 kW low-temperature power generator that generates electricity from the 165 degree water at the springs. Basically a power plant on a flat bed truck, the mobile generator could be transported to communities anywhere in the world that are near hot springs.

“When this prototype starts making electricity it will totally change small energy consumption and production,” Karl said.
Karl has also developed a portable geothermal power unit that can be hooked up to oil or gas wells, which generate hot water as a byproduct of drilling. When it’s hooked up to an oil well the unit can generate enough power for 280 homes, allowing the oil industry to produce electricity as well as oil. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and several private companies will test a prototype generator at an oil well in Florida this fall.

“Any waste heat stream. Go to anybody that’s got an engine running, anybody that’s manufacturing something. It’s got waste heat,” Karl said. “You back it up and turn it into electricity.”

The technology can also use waste heat or geothermal energy to create hydrogen fuel which Chena Hot Springs plans to use to run its cars. Karl hopes the technology can help develop a cheap supply of power for rural Alaska, where fuel can cost as much as $6 a gallon.

“I’m telling you every community in Alaska can be totally sufficient in ten years,” Karl said.

Image courtesy of Chena Hot Springs

Even though the federal government has not approved the biodiesel tax credit extension yet, some states have already been proactive in mandated biodiesel blend policy or state run tax credits. The states that have a mandated blend are: MN,WA,LA,MA,NM,OR & PA. Indiana and Iowa have their own state run tax incentives for biodiesel biofuel producers. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, has said he wants to make the federal credit a priority and thinks it could be passed in February or March. The question is just how long will the biodiesel industry have to wait?

What to do with my Glycerin after I make biodiesel was the question I got today from a home based biodiesel producer. My response was plenty! You can make soap, sell it to a cement or asphalt plant as a burner fuel, it has a high BTU rating and they will gladly take it. Asphalt and Cement plants usually burn a D4 or D5 diesel fuel oil for power generation to make their end products. I also suggested he put it on craigslist; you would be surprised at the response you can get. We have actually sold vegetable oil (UVO, WVO) that way. Last but not least of all glycerin is also a nutrient base for feedlot cattle, yep they are feeding it to cows. So do some research, but whatever you do, do not pour it down your drain! EPA problems you do not need.

Free E-Book On Biodiesel ->

The next few months could be “make or break time” for the soy biodiesel industry in the U.S.

Biodiesel faces several challenges right now, including the high cost of the feedstock and the loss of the one dollar biodiesel blenders’ tax credit, which Congress allowed to expire on December 31^st.  Indications are that most biodiesel plants have ceased production as they await Congressional action on the tax credit, which may not happen until March.

In Iowa, the state’s Renewable Fuels Association has launched a campaign to highlight the importance of biodiesel—and renewable fuels, in general—to Iowa’s economy.  Monte Shaw is the executive director ofIRFA. “We’ve got a lot of exciting thing coming down the road for this industry—things that are going to really redefine renewable fuels for the future,” says Shaw. “Whether it’s exciting feedstock projects like the algae project at Shenandoah, or maybe it’s the biorefinery  project that’s scheduled to go into Newton.”

Good reasons, Shaw says, to keep Iowa’s biodiesel industry viable.

“If we let the current biodiesel industry wither away and lose the jobs we have today, it also means we’re not going to be the place—we’re not going to be the state—where those next generation investments and next generation jobs come either,” he says.  “So we’re really at a turning point, not just for the investors and jobs of today, but for making Iowa the place to be for the future of this industry as well.”

In addition to the federal tax credit extension, Shaw says IRFA will also be lobbying for a five percent biodiesel mandate in the Iowa legislature.

“We really do need a B5 fuel quality standard to create a low level of demand,” says Shaw. “It’s constant, it’s year-around, it’s predictable—and that’s what can help these plants cash flow during the good times and the bad times.”

A bill creating a B5 fuel quality standard passed the Iowa Senate in 2009, but time ran out before the Iowa House could consider the legislation.

The $1-a-gallon tax credit that keeps the industry afloat is due to expire Dec. 31, and lobbyists for biodiesel producers and soybean growers are scrambling to get Congress to enact an extension before lawmakers leave town for the holidays.

The House included an extension of the subsidy in a package of extensions for other business tax credits. However, the Senate has so far failed to act on the issue.

A House Democratic aide said Wednesday that there have been a “number of conversations” with Senate leaders about the issue, but that the Senate only has time to deal with health care and a defense bill. Press representatives for Senate leaders had no immediate comment on the issue.
Were the tax credit to lapse, “it would be a devastating blow to the industry,” said Michael Frohlich, a spokesman for the National Biodiesel Board.

Biodiesel plants could shut down or reduce production if the tax credit lapses, said Daniel Oh, president and chief operating officer of the Ames-based Renewable Energy Group Inc., which operates biodiesel plants in Iowa and other states.

If biodiesel production is limited, it could have a detrimental effect on the price of soybeans and other feedstocks utilized to produce biodiesel,” he said.
Biodiesel producers have been struggling to stay in business for some time because of the relatively high prices of their main feedstock, soybean oil, and the global recession, which has dampened fuel demand. They were dealt another blow early this year when the European Union imposed tariffs on imports of the U.S. product to offset the value of the tax subsidy.

U.S. biodiesel production is down 30 percent this year from 2008, and the industry is operating at about 15 percent of its production capacity.
A recent study by industry consultant John Urbanchuk warned that the “biodiesel industry could be expected to collapse” if the tax credit is removed.

With the tax credit, producers earned about 26 cents a gallon over their production costs in November.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Ia., said the uncertainty about the tax credit raised questions about the commitment of Democratic leaders to alternative fuels.

“This lack of action so far is especially inexcusable, considering the House and Senate have been in session nearly continuously for months,” he said.
John Hoffman of Waterloo, a former president of the American Soybean Association, said the tax credit is “essential to the continuation of the biodiesel industry.”

The new ASTM D6751 Cold Soak Filtration test left many biodiesel producers and consumers out in the cold. In response, Schroeder Biofuels brought Cold Clear to the market, a new proprietary multi-stage separation technology designed specifically to ensure that biodiesel products conform to the new ASTM standard for cold flow properties.

Well here is the latest update on product use. WVO Feedstock is now being cleaned with the Cold Clear system. That’s right! it is also used to filter waste vegetable oil before biodiesel processing begins.

-          Degumming

-          Free Fatty Acid Treatment

Instead of Acid Esterification the Cold Clear units are a suitable alternative to acid Esterification & FFA Treatment. This filtration system is saving time and money for biodiesel biofuel producers.

The Cold Clear TM system consists of a three-stage bank of housings using a combination of filtration and adsorption principles to capture compounds that could cause plugging or crystallization in biodiesel fluids and also yellow grease. Notably, Cold Clear TM is the premiere multi-stage treatment system for cold soak filtration & now waste vegetable oil feedstock for biodiesel production.

Maybe there are some benefits of eating fast food. The first Grease Trap Waste recycling plant in Florida is now in production. Affordable Bio Feedstock, Inc. has developed a brown grease waste recycling plant which turns grease into biofuels. The plant is located in Kissimmee, Florida, also the company’s headquarters, and the company plans on building at least 11 additional plants in Central Florida during the next 14 months. In addition to creating biofuels, the company also converts food solids into fertilizer or animal feedstock.

Remainder Waste after Processing

The company has developed a proprietary and environmentally responsible process for brown grease recycling called Thermal Depolymerization technology, which allows them to separate its contents (oil, organic solids and water) into three commercially marketable products: brown grease, nutrient rich organic solids and nutrient rich water. The plant will process 50,000 gallons of grease trap waste per day.

Grease trap waste is generated in food service establishments (not just fast foods) from fats, oils, and grease in food products and is collected in grease traps and interceptors. For the most part, the waste is being disposed of in landfills at an expense to the restaurant. In addition, the waste can cause sewage overflows costing cities time and money. That is why, says the company, that they have focused on this waste product to produce valuable products such as biofuels.

Ultimately the company will expand its production outside of Florida and into the Southwest. It looks like biodiesel enthusiasts may have some competition on their hands.
This is a great plant and run by great people with entrepreneurial spirit. I had a chance to tour the plant, and let me tell you what they went through to make it happen is nothing short of lots of hard work! I congratulate them on their continued success! Give them a call and today to find out about their process (407) 344-1194

Earlier this month, the US Department of Energy announced almost $600 million in funding for advanced biofuel projects.     This money is intended to push forward next generation biofuels, since corn based ethanol plants have come under fire for increasing food costs.   One of the beneficiaries of the funding is Sapphire Energy, who received $50 million from the DoE and another $54.5 million load guarantee from the Department of Agriculture, under the Biorefinery Assistance Program (part of the 2008 Farm Bill).

Sapphire Energy has developed a process  to produce oil from algae and then turn this oil into gasoline that is virtually identical to the gasoline that is used in cars.   Sapphire calls its gasoline a “drop-in” replacement since its fuel can be used in existing engines without any modification to the vehicle.    Sapphire is currently ramping up production of its biofuel and is looking to produce 1 million gallons of algae based fuel per year by 2011, and 100 million gallons per year by 2018.